I've been reading all around and still don't have clarity as to how to configure my RAM sticks in their slots. My confusion is because posters don't distinguish how the RAM slots are ordered/numbered.
I have the Dell Optiplex 7010, with the Intel i5, 3550, 3.3Ghz processor, with 4GB RAM (in the slot that is numbered #2 on my MOBO, which happens to be the fourth slot, the one furthest to the right of the four slots of the two pairs).
I just bought another 4GB stick of RAM (1600Hz, one that matches the first stick) and want to install it in one of the three remaining slots.
What's confusing about what I read is that my slots are actually numbered, visibly, from left to right as 3-1-4-2, which is not in the order of their positions (1, 2, 3, 4 from left to right). The original RAM stick is in slot #2, "position 4".
My question is, should my new stick (the second stick) go into slot #4 or #1 (as numbered, not as positioned) so as to have dual channel functionality (which I've heard is some 10% faster than single channel)?
I've read that the two sticks should be in the first slot of each pair (e.g., slots numbered 1 and 2 or 3 and 4), as opposed to beside each other (e.g., slots numbered 3 and 1 or 4 and 2). Dell told me to put them beside each other, both in just one pair of slots (e.g., #2 and #4). But what I've read is that they should be "separated", putting each in the first slot of each pair of slots.
What's the best configuration for speed? Should they be beside each other in the same pair of slots, or each stick in the fist slot of each pair of slots. And thanks for clarifying this! Oh, and if each should be in the first slot of each pair, should that be slots 2 and 1, or, 4 and 3? Or does it matter? Thx. And sorry for the overkill descriptions, just trying to be clear about these distinctions.